Tide - C1 Flashcards
Who owns Tide?
Procter & Gamble
When was the product first launched?
1946
Was the product successful?
became the leading brand in America a position it maintains today.
What was advertising agency that handled P&G’s accounts throughout the 1950s?
The D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B)
What did DMB&B uniquely use in their campaign
DMB&B used print and radio advertising campaigns
What ideologies and beliefs did the campaign feature?
the “house wife” character and the ideology that customers “loved” and “adored” Tide
What did the post-WWII consumer boom of the 1950s result in?
the rapid development of new technologies for the home designed to make domestic chores easier.
How did P+G capitalize on the 1950s consumer boom?
As washing machines became desirable products for the 1950s consumers products linked to these new technologies also became desirable during this time, for example, washing powder.
Why does the advert have more copy than print adverts today?
With so many ‘new’ brands entering markets, potential customers typically needed more information about them than a modern audience - link to Gerbner’s cultivation theory
What structures are used in the advert?
Z-lines and rule of thirds
How is colour used?
Bright primary colours connote positivity which makes the audience associate this with the product
How is font used in the advert?
Headings, subheadings and slogans are written in sans-serif font, connoting an informal mode of address. The details of the product are written in a serif font, connoting a more ‘serious’ information.
How does the advert use media language to create a informal mode of address?
- The comic strip image
- informal lexis -“sudsing whizz”, “suds”
- “you women”
- Constance - “what women want”
- exclamatory sentences
- love heart doodles
How can Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics be applied?
- Suspense is created through the enigma of “what women want” (Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code)
- Tension-building through exclamatory sentences(Barthes’ Proairetic Code).
- The hearts have connotations of love (Barthes’ Semantic Code)
- Hyperbole and superlatives (“Miracle”, “World’s cleanest wash!”, “World’s whitest wash!”) as well as tripling (“No other…”) are used to connote the superiority of Tide
How can Levi-Strauss’ structuralist theory be seen in Tide?
- Binary opposition between Tide and its competitors - “any other washday product” and “Procter and Gamble’s Tide”
- Binary opposition between men and women - “you women”
Which adverts around the time period can be seen as connoting different ideologies?
Women’s land army and Rosie the Riveter
How were different gender targeted for products during the consumerism boom?
Men were targeted for cars and women were targeted for domestic products
What do the dress codes in the advert connote?
- Stereotypical for the 1950s
- hair curls made popular by film stars such as Veronica Lake - aspirational
- Short hair also made popular as long hair dangerous in factory
- hairband also connotes work - hair pushed back
- make up to achieve western beauty standards, make work seem glamourous, and please her husband
- dresses not practical but again glamourous and feminine
- bright colours connoting positivity
How can David Gauntlett’s theory of identity be applied to the Tide advert?
Women represented in the advert act as role models o fdomestic perfection that the audience may want to construct their own sense of identity against.
Does Tide uphold Van Zoonen’s theory?
No Van Zoonen’s theory is subverted as the advert shows women in a non sexual way.
How can bell hook’s theory be applied?
The media sees lighter skinned women as more desirable as they uphold western beauty standards which is shown in Tide - link to postcolonialism and g
Gilroy
Who is the target audience for the advert?
- affluent lower-middle class (BC1C2)
- white women
- 18-50
- married with children (nuclear family)
- heterosexual
- aspiring
How can Stuart Hall’s reception theory be applied?
• the main image connotes that
the product is of prime importance this preferred reading
- direct mode of address and use of imperative (“Remember!”, “your wash”, “you can buy”) draws in the consumer
- The oppositional view is that the advert upholds stereotypes too rigidly
How can Gerbner’s cultivation theory be applied?
• Aims to cultivate ideas that it is: - the brand leader - like nothing else - a desirable product for its female audience - an innovation for the domestic washing market
• by repeating their ideologies the audience will regard them as theirs
Finish the quote: “ Tide’s got _____”
“Tide’s got what women want!”
Finish the quote: “No wonder _______”
“No wonder you women buy more Tide than any other washday product!”
Finish the quote: “No soap _______”
“No soap - no other “suds”- no other washing product known- will get your wash as clean as Tide!”
Finish the quote: “World’s w_____”
“World’s whitest wash!”
Finish the quote: “World’s c______”
“World’s cleanest wash!”
Finish the quote: “Actually____”
“Actually brightens colours!”
Finish the quote: “Tide’s a ______”
“Tide’s a sudsing whizz even in the hardest water”
